1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved medical protocol system having a graphical user interface which provides delayed activation of a step within the medical protocol and a publisher's view which shows the process flow of the medical protocol.
2. The Background Art
With the rising cost of healthcare, greater emphasis has been placed on providing healthcare services to patients at a consistent level of quality, while remaining cost-effective. Meeting these goals is a difficult endeavor because there are a variety of variables and factors that must be managed during treatment. For example, a medical protocol having more than one step may need to be implemented over a period of time, requiring the services of more than one medical provider, such as a day shift nurse and an evening shift nurse. Or the step performed may depend on the result of the previous step requiring the attention of a medical provider having a different skill set than the previous medical provider. Or the protocol may require steps that need to be performed by a team of medical providers, each having to perform different steps at different times. Or the medical protocol requires certain steps to occur at defined intervals, such as every eight hours or every day.
Accordingly a need exists for a graphical user interface-based medical protocol system that can provide delayed activation of a step defined within a medical protocol and that can generate a flow chart of the medical protocol so that the medical provider can ascertain the steps defined therein.